


This is Where We Start Again

by eternal_song



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon-Typical Violence, Fai loves his family very much, Fai time travels and proceeds to troll the multiverse, Families of Choice, Found Family, M/M, Temporary Character Death, That's sure not a tag you get to use in this fandom often, Time Travel Fix-It, not safe for newbies, spoilers for the entire manga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_song/pseuds/eternal_song
Summary: Fai has outlived his family by centuries and just wants to see them again. He really, honestly didn't mean to travel back in time to their first meeting. But now that he's here, he may as well make the best of the situation and correct some of his old mistakes.And if he gets to annoy and seduce his husband all over again, that's just a bonus.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane, Tsubasa Family Dynamics
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	This is Where We Start Again

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is entirely inspired by the fact that I love Time Travel Fix-It AU's with a burning passion and my realizations that, 1) Syaoran already tried it and it sorta didn't work out for him and, 2) Fai would absolutely have enough power at the end of his long life to accidentally turn back the clock and rewrite reality a la Clow Reed.
> 
> Heavy inspiration also taken from the incredible fic ["Oh God Not Again"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4701869) by Sarah1281
> 
> Title from ["Come To Me"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qib3jpR8wng) by The Goo Goo Dolls because that song is the most "Married Kurofai" shit I've ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a wild guess at the chapter title's origin.
> 
> Thank you to Animangod for being a terrible enabler, and thank you to Littlefuzzydude for the beta.

There was a certain relief in knowing that he was about to die, even centuries after Kurogane led Fai away from his actively suicidal tendencies. His life was long — much longer than he ever would have believed it could be in his youth — and fulfilled. But the satisfaction of a life well-lived didn’t keep him from missing those he’d outlived. He especially longed to reunite with Kurogane, his beloved husband who had died nearly two hundred years ago, though Fai had done everything in his power to extend the ninja’s lifespan. Hopefully, Fai’s ashes would rejoin Kurogane’s as the winds carried them over the countryside of a rebuilt, thriving Suwa. He also hoped to meet his children again. Syaoran and Sakura, Tsubasa and Tsubasa. He wanted to wrap them in his arms again and tell them how proud of them he was.

He wanted to hug his brother again.

“Fai-san…” Mokona’s high voice was small and sad. With effort, Fai cracked open his eyes and turned his head to smile at them.

“Don’t worry about me, Moko-chan.” He lifted a hand and patted the creature on the top of their head. “I’m going to see our family soon, and you have to help the other Mokona take care of Watanuki-kun.”

Mokona nuzzled into Fai’s palm as a few tears escaped their eyes.

“Mokona will miss you, Fai-san,” they murmured. “Maybe someday you’ll come back, and Mokona can meet you again.”

Fai let out a weak chuckle. “I’d like that.”

“And — and Kuro-tan, and Sakura-chan, and Syaoran-kun! They can all be there.”

“Meeting everyone for the first time again, hmm?” Fai let his hand drop back to the futon as his eyes slid shut again. “That sounds wonderful, Moko-chan. I just hope that I don’t make the same mistakes again…”

He thought he heard Mokona say something else, but the creature spoke too quietly to hear over the buzz of Fai’s magic in his head. What would happen to the power his body contained once he was gone? It wrapped around him and he felt it working, perhaps in a last-ditch attempt to keep his soul tethered to his body.

 _I just want to be with my family again,_ he told it as the world slipped away. The magic enshrouded him in a protective cocoon. With a sigh of relief, Fai surrendered to it and let it pull him away from his old, spent body.

* * *

The sensation of falling brought Fai back to awareness. Eyes fluttering open, he tried to make sense of his surroundings. He seemed to be falling through a dark void. A bright point of light below him slowly grew in size as he plummeted towards it.

 _I don’t know what I expected the afterlife to look like,_ Fai thought, _but it wasn’t this._ He registered a strange weight on his shoulders and, when he reached up to feel it, he realized he was wearing gloves and a heavy garment. Tugging on the fabric revealed a hood over his head with a thick fur trim leading down the front. He barely had time to contemplate this before the light below became a circle of green grass. Spacetime stretched around him and he clutched the staff he only just realized he was holding as he landed. The bubble around him burst, allowing the falling rain to patter down on his hood, but he barely noticed. In front of him stood Yūko Ichihara, the Spacetime Witch herself, dressed exactly the same as the first time they’d met. The pouring rain fell all around them, but she remained dry and immaculate.

Looking to his left, Fai nearly fell over in shock at the sight of a desperate teenaged Syaoran clutching his unconscious princess. And beyond the pair… Fai had to support his weight with his old staff as his knees wobbled. Kurogane crouched low, Ginryū drawn. He was bloodstained and cloaked and so, so young. Fai’s breath caught in his throat as the clues clicked together in his mind. Somehow, his magic took his dying wish and rewound time back to the moment his family first met. This was the nexus point of where their individual hitsuzen joined and entwined together.

 _Son of a bitch,_ he thought. _I pulled a Clow Reed._

This was not the time to freak out. Fai shoved his rising panic down and plastered on his old fake smile. Unfortunately, in the nearly three hundred years since this meeting, he’d forgotten most of the details. It took him longer than it should have to realize that the odd heaviness surrounding his magic came from the phoenix tattoo on his back. It hadn’t been there for so long that he'd forgotten what it felt like to have it.

“Who the hell are you?” Kurogane demanded of the Witch and, gods, Fai had missed that voice. It took a lot of willpower to keep from staring at Kurogane like a besotted teenager. Instead, he looked around the shop’s front yard and at the buildings beyond, gazing up through the rain at the towering steel and glass structures. He had often wondered if this city was the same Tokyo destined to erode under acid rainfall and be reborn as Clow country, or if it was merely another version from a separate universe.

“And you?” Yūko’s voice cut through Fai’s musings. He met her wine-colored eyes and gave her a small, genuine smile. It was good to see her again.

“I am Fai D. Fluorite, wizard of Celes.” He flourished his words with a small courtly bow.

“And do you know where you are?”

How had he responded last time? Just as back then, he knew more about this place than Yūko could guess, but he had a different reason for hiding his knowledge this time.

“This is a place that grants wishes for an equal price, correct?” He gestured to the shop before indicating the Witch. “And you are the Spacetime Witch, who runs it.”

Yūko’s stony expression didn’t waver, but she nodded.

“Exactly. The reason you are all here is that each of you has a wish.”

“I just want to go home!” Kurogane shouted.

Last time, Fai wished to not return to Celes. That hadn’t exactly worked out, and he’d have to return again if his magic truly had doomed him to repeating past events. So what should he wish for now?

“My wish…” he tapped his chin with a gloved finger. “I want to travel to as many worlds as I can. I’d rather not go home, if possible.”

Kurogane shot him a venomous glare, as if the very idea of not wanting to return home was anathema. Fai couldn’t help the slight grin that twitched at the corners of his mouth. It only grew as Kurogane yelled at Yūko for “spouting crap” about the price for their wishes, which Fai honestly hadn’t been paying attention to.

“Kuro-san, you’re so rude!” He teased, earning another shout from the angry ninja.

Fai hadn’t understood the first time around just how important Ginryū was to Kurogane. As he watched the Ninja and the Witch argue over the sword, he thought back to the night in Nihon where Kurogane had finally told him the full story of his past. Fai told him he didn’t need to hear the story yet, that Kurogane was injured and didn’t need to bring up emotional wounds on top of the ones he’d earned saving Fai’s life, but the stubborn man went ahead with his tale. Now, Kurogane gritted his teeth and swore to come back for his sword, and Fai’s heart tightened at the pain he knew his beloved felt.

Yūko turned to Fai, and he stiffened. What if she asked for something different this time? His tattoo was no longer precious to him the way it had been before — in fact, he would be glad to get rid of it and begin strengthening his magical power as soon as possible. He would need it. But what else could he give her? His memories of the past, now future, were more precious than anything else, but could he afford to redo this journey without them? There were mistakes he’d made which he hoped to correct this time, but that was only possible if he remembered what not to do.

“Your price,” Yūko said and Fai tensed. The tattoo felt like a physical weight against his spine. “… Is your marking.”

Fai’s shoulders slumped. He hoped that she would interpret the gesture as dejection rather than relief. He managed a pained grimace and, forgoing the attempt to offer his staff, nodded. “I guess I have no choice.”

The phoenix lifted from his skin and floated over to Yūko. It was surreal to see it again, and a twinge of regret niggled at Fai. He still remembered the days when Ashura had cared for him and treated him like something precious, but those memories were tainted now.

Watanuki hurried out with both Mokona in his arms and Fai relaxed a little more. The little white creature was as much a part of his family as the humans. His relief was short-lived, however. Syaoran’s words of determination as Yūko explained the price he had to pay were impossible to ignore this time around. Last time, Fai had convinced himself that he could get through the journey before him without attachments. He’d written off Syaoran’s words as being only a product of the purpose Fei Wang made him for. Now he knew better, and his heart clenched to see the boy so determined to protect the girl he loved, oblivious to the outside forces that attempted to control him.

 _I’ll do better for you this time,_ Fai thought, hands gripping his staff tightly as he resisted the urge to go comfort Syaoran. _I won’t let Fei Wang use you again_.

“Sincerity and determination,” Yūko said, holding their Mokona out with one hand, “are what a person requires, no matter what they wish to attempt. It seems you have both in abundance.”

Fai ducked his head, hoping that his hood would hide his tiny smile. Yūko had no idea just how sincere and determined Syaoran — any Syaoran — could be.

He looked back up in time to watch Mokona’s wings unfurl as they rose from Yūko’s hand. Their magic circle glowed beneath them. Fai braced himself for the pull when Mokona opened their mouth, and let a little giggle slip out at Syaoran and Kurogane’s confused shouts. With a tight grip on his staff, he let Mokona’s whirlwind suck him into their mouth and to their first world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this will likely be a backburner project and not one I dive into headfirst like I did with Better Human, I'm feeling fairly inspired right now and I have about 80% of this fic outlined, so we'll see how frequently I update.
> 
> Comments and kudos definitely motivate me to write more ;)


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